Thursday, August 20, 2009

Last night watching So You Think You Can Dance (Canada), a fellow got eliminated in a fit of ego (mostly his). He also tried out last year, and wound up disqualified at the same point--ballroom. The judges pointed out that last year he also had trouble with this form of dance and that he should have expected it to come up again this year and prepare himself by taking a few classes.

He rolled his eyes. Yes, rolled his eyes. So they tried to instruct him, give him pointers on how to improve. Not a bad concept, after all the judges are all professionals and teaching is part of what professionals do.

He rolled his eyes. Yep, again. After much chest thumping swagger and eye rolling on his part, he stormed off the stage, dragging his enormous ego behind him. He yelled at everyone from the judges to the camera man (who lapped up the drama and followed him for several minutes of amazing, over-the-top ranting).

Wow, I did mention the guy had a big ego, right?

Which brings me to the point of this post.

In the arts of any form, park your ego at the door. Take classes, watch YouTube, ask questions. Give yourselve a large dose of humility and learn from those that are better than you are.